Saturday, May 31, 2008

Its been too long...


It has been far too long since I have posted and a lot has happened.
Finals and heading out to Jamaica being the main two.
During finals my joints were pretty bad because of the amount of sitting I had to do in order to study. Hips are still the worst.
On the 25th I headed out for my first trip outside the country (besides Canada, which doesn't count) to study in Jamaica for 5 weeks. The plane ride was short (about 4 hours or so) but I made sure to get an aisle seat in case I had to get up to stretch,or creak and crack my bones. While they did start to hurt when standing around at the airport (sitting and standing still for lengths of time are the worst), they have not been all that bad thus far. Maybe its the Jamaican breeze.
The roads and beaches here are rocky and I was afraid my joints would be awful but, even with only wearing my inserts some of the time, my joints have not been all that bad (though they are definitely worse after a nights of drinking rum, which have been happening a lot).

We are going to a mineral bath close to Yallahs (where I am staying) today that is supposed to have some healing power when it comes to joint pain. It's mostly "bush medicine" beliefs, but I will give anytjing a shot. I will write more on that later.

Sunday, May 4, 2008


So, Friday night we went out to our favorite Vegan Chinese joint (Kingdom of Vegetarians) to celebrate our friend Mia and my boyfriend's birthdays. We then proceeded to Bob and Barbara's, a local bar that has a great three piece jazz band on the weekends.
Since I hadn't had a drop of alcohol in quite a while I decided to indulge in a few vodka and cranberry juices.
Bad idea.
I knew going into the night that if I decided to drink I would know for sure about the drinking arthritis connection by morning. While I had a great time that night, by morning, it was as though I forgot how bad my hips and elbows could hurt.
I suppose it was worth it to know for sure (well at least have a better idea) that alcohol does cause arthritis flare ups. Sad but true.
Now I know and knowledge is power. If I do decide to drink more than just a glass of red wine in the future I better be prepared to waste a day lounging around, hungover with joint pain.

Eh,who needs the calories from alcohol anyway?Right?